University of Wyoming Hosts Community College Summer Institute for First Time

The University of Wyoming hosted its first Community College Summer Institute, a five-day program that taught students with a variety of learning backgrounds from UW and four of its community colleges the science of learning while also allowing them to engage in collaborative, problem-based learning.

The Community College Summer Institute (CCSI), which took place May 26-30, was designed by Rachel Watson, director of the UW Science Initiative’s Learning Actively Mentoring Program, with the original concept coming from Vicky Mayfield, a retired Eastern Wyoming College (EWC) mathematics professor, who collaborated with Sherri Warren, an EWC faculty member. A small seed grant was obtained through the NASA Space Grant Consortium for CCSI, and Watson used the Science Institute’s network to gather “UW graduate and undergraduate peer mentors, as well as space and resources,” she says.

With the seed grant, five community college students participated in the program where, using the science of learning and collaboration, they worked to address housing insecurity and habitat loss in the face of environmental change.

The issue of housing insecurity and habitat loss connected to environmental change was identified from community college students’ applications, where they were asked which “wicked problems” interested them the most.

To support the students’ problem solving during CCSI, Mayfield designed an escape room puzzle. Then, a team of experts spoke to students housing insecurity and habitat loss. Kristy Oster, director of community engagement at the Natrona County Collective Health Trust, spoke about the housing crisis in Natrona County, and UW Ph.D. students Alex Kurtt, of West Des Moines, Iowa, and Sabrina White, of Orlando, Fla., related the human housing crisis to habitat loss in insect populations. Kurtt and White’s teaching included innovative strategies insects have used to cope with temperature shifts and extreme weather events.

“I learned that. while I am a mentor, there is plenty to learn from mentees,” Kurtt says of CCSI.

Following the speakers, the institute’s student learners explored specimens from UW’s Insect Museum and gained knowledge to apply biomimicry to their solutions for the human housing crisis, which were built in the Innovation Wyrkshop.

Emily Leinen, of the Innovation Wyrkshop, provided its use for CCSI, and Christi Boggs, associate director of online and digital teaching in the Ellbogen Center for Teaching and Learning, provided mentoring support.

The first student team included Valentino Palato, a Casper College student from Casper transferring to UW-Casper; Kayla Horsen, a Northwest College (NWC) student from Meeteetse transferring to UW; Asher Wolf, a Laramie County Community College student from Cheyenne; Natalie Speckner, a UW undergraduate from Lingle; and Dylan Chatterley, a UW undergraduate from Rock Springs.

“The overall experience was a large inspiration, in many ways, from my academic to my personal life,” Wolf says.

“I have honestly learned so much from everyone here. Everyone’s perspectives have opened my mind to new ways of thinking,” Horsen says.

The team conceptualized, built and showcased the “Hive Five Solution,” a community center modeled on a beehive that contains a library, job-skills classroom, shared kitchen, aquaculture and hydroponics, and a pollinator garden. Intended to support an existing project in Casper, Goodwill Landing, the team’s center would ensure previously unhoused residents have food dignity, knowledge dignity and creative dignity. Palato coined, defined and copyrighted the term “worthonomics,” which he describes as the practice of building human economic capacity from the inside out, starting with the restoration of a person’s sense of worth.

“I feel confident that CCSI will be a great benefit to students, instructors and the community in the future,” Palato says.

“I feel inspired,” Speckner says of her experience. “This group of people helped me grow and learn about my power as a catalyst to change hearts, minds and wicked problems in my own backyard.”

The second student team included Alexxa Barraza, a Laramie Community College student from Calexico, Calif., who is transferring to UW; Amber Rogers, an NWC student from Powell transferring to UW; Xander Lindsey, a UW undergraduate from Crosby, N.D.; and Chaley Dimmoff, a UW graduate student from Laramie.

“CCSI was a truly invaluable experience. My problem-solving and collaboration skills have increased dramatically this week,” Lindsey says.

Austin Conklin, an NWC professor of biological sciences, walked alongside this team throughout the problem-solving process, helping them propose and build a social network based upon principles of change theory. Leveraging existing change agents and opinion leaders within Natrona County, this proposed network would enable the web of community support needed to allow the housing effort to take hold. The network’s visual representation was an electrical grid wired to small lightbulbs, with its code written by the team.

“After collaborating with members of the CCSI and completing the project, I feel more confident in my ability researching and understanding wicked problems,” Rogers says.

“I was able to learn a lot from my peers and gain new skills through team effort, creativity and problem-solving,” Barraza says.

All learners across levels -- from the community college students to UW faculty -- self-assessed their growth throughout the week. Collectively, they grew most in their understanding of insect resilience with changing environmental conditions; their relationships with each other; their ability to use the Innovation Wyrkshop resources; the neuroscience of deep learning; and the knowledge that they have skills invaluable to problem solving.

The solutions envisioned by the cross-level teams will be shared with the Natrona County Collective Health Trust Friday, June 5, after which teams hope they can find support to further explore these innovative ideas.

The first CCSI is a dream come true, Mayfield says, adding that she and her colleague Warren couldn’t have envisioned a learning environment more transformative for community college students.

CCSI brought together a diverse group of learners from community colleges students to a retired faculty member, Watson says.

“The CCSI was a proof of concept for me,” Watson says. “We brought together learners from across the lifespan with the knowledge that this should bring greater creativity to problem solving. It did just that!”